The 130th Rifle Division commanded by Major General Vizhgilin was also stationed in our town.

In short, when the war broke out I was already a well trained soldier.

We did not receive Red Army soldier military identity papers. Even while repelling all the German attacks, for some reason, we were retreating.

The only document proving my identity was my Komsomol card, which I carried wrapped in waxed paper throughout all the entanglements of 1941. We were baptized by fire around a place named Vapniarka.- What do you particularly remember about the summer of 1941? The rifle companies were melting away before our eyes, and not only due to the heavy combat casualties. Incessant German air bombing; in those days the sky was in hands of the Germans.